Ruark Audio R3S review: a timeless audio companion

Introduction

Earlier this year, I wrote about why I’m buying my first CD player in 20 years. The tiny snag: I never got round to buying one. Fortunately, Ruark sent over an R3S Compact Music System for me to try for a few weeks. On paper, it looked like the perfect solution – a sleek box promising CD playback, streaming, and a whole lot more.

This isn’t my first time with Ruark, though. A pair of Ruark MR1 Mk2 speakers in my office pipes audio from my iMac. Those impressed to the degree I grabbed a second pair for the living room TV. (Cue: gasps of horror from 5:1 fans.) I had high hopes, then, that this all-in-one could cater for all of my music needs. Let’s see if the Ruark Audio R3S met them.

Design and build: old-school cool

I’ve seen the Ruark aesthetic described as ‘retro futuristic’, but that doesn’t mean it’s like something out of The Jetsons. It’s a more thoughtful blend of modern and classic, which feels timeless rather than dated. I think the R3S will age well.

Out of the box, this player is immediately recognisably Ruark. The boxy form is softened with curves. Warmth is provided by woven grille fabric. The R3S being perched on legs and afforded a slight upward tilt gives it less visual weight on a shelf or table. I think it looks fantastic, especially in soft grey – although there’s also a ‘walnut’ option for wood aficionados.

The physical controls are another highlight. I’m a big fan of the chunky dials on Ruark kit – the R3S’s is a superb tactile controller for when you don’t want to fish out a phone or a remote. And I didn’t even mind the screen – a rarity with this kind of device. It’s clear rather than eye-piercing, and it shows a reasonable amount of information, even if larger titles inevitably end up scrolling.

Features: box of tricks

The Ruark R3S tries to cater for everything the modern music world has to offer. And things that are a mite less modern. 

Let’s start with the CD player. It’s a slot-loader with a quiet, responsive mechanism. It supports standard CDs (obviously), but also those you’ve burned yourself. Like it’s 1998.

Radio is easy to get to. DAB and internet options gave me fast access to a vast array of stations – everything from talky BBC Radio shows to chip-tune web stations. Podcasts are also supported.

For modern(!) listeners, the R3S supports Spotify Connect, Amazon Music and Deezer. I tried Spotify and Amazon, with no issues. Alas, Apple Music isn’t ‘on the list’, but it was simple to blast tunes from that service to the R3S over Bluetooth. (AirPlay requires an extra gadget.)

If all that isn’t enough, there’s also optical and RCA analogue input, and USB for FAT32 sticks full of MP3s. Just be mindful the port is USB-C, not USB-A. And speaking of physical ports, you can also output via RCA (for which Ruark offers its own subwoofer) and headphones. There’s an alarm system too, although I’d argue the R3S would be wasted in a bedroom, unless you live in a palatial mansion.

Interface: speed dial

There’s a lot going on with the Ruark R3S, but it’s easy to set up and use. Much of that is down to the flexibility it provides. Some functions are simpler when using the compatible Oktiv app, but you don’t need to.

The star is the Ruark’s trademark chunky dial, which is surrounded by important buttons. I happily span the dial to blaze through settings and lists, wistfully recalling my old iPod. The remote is… fine. I too often forgot it uses left/right for up/down on the R3S screen, and so regularly changed volume when I didn’t intend to. But it’s usable enough. As proof, I kicked off an episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage podcast with only the remote. Not something I’d recommend, but it’s nice to know it can be done.

That all said, the app is better for quickly getting to podcasts or radio stations. However, it also lets you create up to eight presets per mode, for fast access to favourite stations, playlists or albums – regardless of interaction method. In all, there were no major moments of frustration when using the R3S across three weeks. It just got out of the way and let me listen to stuff.

Sound quality: music to my ears

The Ruark R3S has a 30W A-B amp, 2x 75mm full-range drivers and, according to Ruark, a “powerful new processor and revised circuitry” over the R3. It’s capable of room-filling sound and it gets loud. I ramped it up to maximum just once, lest my next-door neighbour have me discover how many CDs I can eat. There was no obvious distortion, and music remained balanced and lively.

Regardless of source and when using other – saner – volume levels, the R3S offers great clarity, although I quickly realised how important the audio enhancements are. The unit ships with both ‘loudness’ and ‘3D audio’ on. The former beefs up bass and treble at lower volumes. In smaller rooms, this neatly fills out the low end without sounding boomy or muddying the music. Meanwhile, 3D audio creates a spacious stereo soundstage at odds with the smallish size of this single box.

Together, these enhancements make for a richer sound that, to my ears, isn’t detrimental to most output. In fact, turning off 3D audio by comparison makes music feel like it’s retreated inside the box. The result isn’t bad. It’s just lesser. By contrast, the ‘loudness’ function felt less necessary to me when the R3S was in a larger space. And in all cases, I felt the need to take the bass down a notch and disable loudness entirely for podcasts. 

As ever, what your ears reckon may vary. But from classical to rock – and probably too many plays of Slowdive – the R3S for me proved head-bobbingly consistent, detailed and invigorating.

Ruark Audio R3S verdict

A few weeks in, I have remarkably few items on my Ruark R3S personal wish/gripes list. Built-in AirPlay support would be nice. The remote having a button or two to toggle enhancements would be handy. And it costing 650 quid will be too rich for some.

But you get what you pay for. The Ruark Audio R3S is friendly, immediate and great fun. It looks superb. The build quality is excellent, which you’d expect at this price. And it’s versatile, with its many source options, plentiful connectivity and optional audio enhancements.

No matter the source, this is an easy music system to live with – and one that proves consistently enjoyable. For me, personally, it’s a ‘money where my mouth is’ moment – I’ve no doubt there will be an R3S in this house for years to come, assuming it doesn’t revolt when experiencing the full depths of my CD collection.

Ruark Audio R3S technical specifications